• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

New tube tech from Korg

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Korg already has products including tubes in the audio stage for that "analog warmth" but if it doesn't look (and glow) like real tubes and can't be put behind a small window to attract/impress customers the commercial appeal will be small, not a good marketing idea IMO. (look at Korg's SV-1 below for a good exemple). Maybe the small size, low consumption and low voltages required for the VFD tubes are advantageous for small battery-powered FX-pedals including tubes. It's very unlikely these VFD tubes will be ever offered to the open market/hobbyist community by Korg, or maybe in very limited quantities as spare parts for their products.
 

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I don't know if mere mortals (or small companies) will ever have access to these but there are a couple of key specs that does make them quite different from "old" tubes.

Maximum plate dissipation 1.7 MILLIWATTS, can't red plate this one.

Plate voltage is 5 to 80 (max) volts.

Anode current 10 to 34 microamps.

Mu is 12.

Gm is 40 uA.

Positive grid voltage is required for most applications, but grid current is less than 14 microamps, which is almost as much as the plate current.

No word about microphonics, but it is a DHT with a suspended filament. I still think it could be useful for a preamp mounted inside the guitar. A two stage tube preamp operating both sections at the maximum ratings would consume less than 30 milliwatts including both filaments! The curves look quite linear especially when operated near the maximum ratings.
 
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